Entertaining at home: The Art of Fine Dining masterclass at Alain Ducasse at The Dorchester

A restaurant with three Michelin stars isn’t the type of place where you expect staff to share details of their cost-saving measures, but Nicolas Defremont, restaurant director at Alain Ducasse at the Dorchester hotel in London, offers two thrifty tricks in quick succession. First: to make sure polished cutlery shimmers, spray it beforehand with a solution that is one half water and one half white vinegar - “the cheaper the white vinegar is the better.” Second: to properly iron table cloths, don’t invest in an expensive steam iron. Instead, buy a simple, durable iron that has a smooth, imperforated base and spritz the cloth with water from a separate spray can. The bases of steam irons can become encrusted with granules of calcified hard water, meaning ironed fabric can be streaked or isn’t as smooth as possible.

The ironing tip indicates Alain Ducasse pays rather obsessive attention to detail (and the tablecloths are ironed three times before each meal) but given a seven-course seasonal menu here costs £180 a thorough approach seems warranted. And in any case, we’re in the restaurant to learn what it takes to host the perfect meal – a degree of obsessiveness is to be expected. Over the coming months, Alain Ducasse at the Dorchester is holding ‘The Art of Fine Dining’ masterclass, to enable students to apply Michelin-star hospitality techniques to dinner parties held at home.

The idea for the two-hour classes came about due to diners repeatedly asking staff for information on the room and the procedures involved in preparing the space for the public’s approval. This obstinate age of austerity may not have had a significant impact on the Dorchester’s regular customers but the increasing trend for entertaining at home has also meant more people wanted to make use of that advice for their own private events.

Immaculately presented and with a heavy, Gerard Depardieu-style French accent, Defremont has been working in the restaurant for years and is used to satisfying the most demanding clients, so catering to the hoi polloi should be easy. I ask him what advice he’d give to a typical contestant on Come Dine With Me. He has no idea what that is. After explaining the show’s concept, he’s able to provide his most crucial piece of guidance: it’s the smallest details that make the biggest difference.

It may sound obvious but a dinner party with grandiose additions can overwhelm guests. If placing flowers in the dining space ensure their fragrance doesn’t suffocate the smell of the food and wine being served; if adding a centrepiece to a table ensure it doesn’t block diners’ views of their companions.

Instead, concentrate on the components that are often overlooked. Serve two or three types of bread rather than just one; offer a choice between salted and unsalted butter; buy cheap bundles of mint so you can offer fresh mint tea along with coffee.

Attention to detail is also crucial and we’re told about the ominous-sounding “rule of the one finger”. It simply means that when setting the table ensure there’s a finger’s width between each piece of cutlery and plate. We’re provided with white cotton gloves to ensure we don’t smudge the restaurant’s forks and knives and, after witnessing Defremont do so correctly, instructed to lay a table. I try my best to follow his example but my I-now-realise-misshapen index finger doesn’t quite allow me to reach Ducasse standards. After swiftly making a few deft adjustments to my skewed settings, Defremont consoles me by saying these things take practice: “Setting up a table is all about the alignment. Everything is parallel or perpendicular, but always in line.”

Defremont runs through some more tips. The host should share knowledge about the dishes being served – make sure you know the ingredients’ provenance and be able to explain why they work together; keep spare cutlery and china in a sideboard or a console in the dining room to prevent disruptive return visits to the kitchen; consult your wine merchant about what drinks to serve with your planned dishes, and make sure guests’ glasses are kept topped up. They all seem sensible but, to me, his recommendation that women are served before men seems archaic. Surely it’s most equitable to just serve people in the sequence they’re seated rather than by sex? They do things differently at The Dorchester so we agree to disagree on that.

Coincidentally, I had eaten at the restaurant some months previously to celebrate some good news with a friend. We enjoyed the food, of course, but found the service to occasionally be overly attentive and consequently disruptive. After taking a sip of water or wine someone would stride over to fill the glass immediately; when clearing plates the waiter would talk at length about what we had just eaten; someone was made available to walk us to the toilet. Why do certain kinds of Michelin-starred restaurants do this?

Defremont explains that the waiting team typically assesses customers as they enter and responds to them differently dependent on the impression they make. Staff will keep their distance from a group of businessmen having a work meeting; if it looks like you’re celebrating a special event they may be more present. In any case, if a customer would prefer something to be done differently they should just say so directly and a well-trained waiter will adapt to fit their tastes and needs. Whatever hosting procedures you routinely put in place, it seems one of the most important tenets of hospitality is to do whatever it takes to ensure your guests leaves happy.

The masterclass takes place at Alain Ducasse at The Dorchester on June 9 and 23 and on other as-yet-unconfirmed dates thereafter. It costs £120 per person and classes are for a minimum of three participants and a maximum of eight. You can book places by calling 020 7629 8866.